• Foul smell emanating from family’s flat prompted neighbours to inform police
• Doctors reserve opinion on cause of death until post-mortem examination is complete

KARACHI: In a disturbing incident, a middle-aged doctor, his wife and their three underage daughters were found dead at their Ahsanabad apartment in Scheme-33 off Superhighway on Sunday, officials said.

They added that the five partially decomposed bodies were recovered from the seventh floor of the high-rise building.

The bodies were taken to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

They were identified as 45-year-old Dr Umer and his 35-year-old wife, Mehwish. However, the police named only one daughter, 13-year-old Zainab, and said that two other girls were between the ages of two and four.

Police Surgeon Dr Summaiya Syed told Dawn there were no apparent injury marks on the bodies. She said the bodies were in advanced stage of decomposition. The cause of death was reserved for the chemical analysis.

Dr Syed added that the doctors have collected samples for the DNA analysis.

SITE Superhighway Industrial Area police SHO Mohammed Nawaz told Dawn that they received information from the union of the building that a foul smell was emanating from an apartment. The police rushed to the spot and saw the door locked from the inside. They broke open the door and found the five bodies lying in a room.

The officer said that the doctor worked at a private hospital near his residence.

He was recently diagnosed with cancer, which had reportedly upset him. He said recently robbers had also looted the doctor. The police officer said the family had been living there since 2024.

East SSP Zubair Nazir Shaikh, who visited the spot, told Dawn that the bodies had been there for around three days.

He said it would be premature to say anything about the exact cause of the death at this stage. He added that they were waiting for the post-mortem reports. Besides, he said, the crime scene unit was also called in to collect evidence while CCTV footage was also being obtained.

He said investigators would take statements from the hospital management, where the doctor had worked, and neighbours to get clues about the circumstances surrounding the deaths.

He said the doctor originally hailed from Punjab. The investigators have managed to contact his brother, who lives in Lahore.

The police have also asked the doctor’s father-in-law, who also lives in Punjab, to claim the bodies.

The SSP said the neighbours had told the police about the doctor’s medical condition and his difficult financial situation.

However, further investigations are underway to verify the information, he added.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2026